The riots have shown that governments can act quickly – but who will pay?

Forgive any person who has been away from the UK for a month. When they left, the new government was issuing dire warnings about the lack of public cash. Keir Starmer and his team would do their best, they said, but be under no illusion – it won’t be easy. It will take time for them to turn things around. Be patient.

Back in Blighty, the returnee finds that the streets are filled with thuggery of the most violent kind, that rioters are trying to set light to a hotel with the migrant residents still inside, the police are sustaining serious injuries, vehicles are ablaze, and shops are being looted. The trouble is in not just one place but many, most of them centres of social deprivation.

What else do they discover? That as if by magic, the justice system has stepped up. Gone are the court backlogs. Also vanished, seemingly, is talk of prison overcrowding.

No sooner did Starmer triumph than Labour was saying it would be releasing some offenders early to alleviate pressure on jails. Yet so far, around 1,000 rioters have been arrested. They’re being fast-tracked through the courts, and in many cases, rightly handed prison terms.

Not only that but those who do not receive jail time are being given community service orders – which require official supervision.

Isn’t it amazing what politicians can achieve when they must? It’s an extraordinary turnaround, from proceeding slowly and cautiously to all-action, all-energy. All this while most people were enjoying their summer break.

This summer has been marked by frenetic activity and decision-making. Police are struggling to cope, so what does Starmer do? He creates “a standing army” of officers trained in maintaining public order. Cameras are allowed into police commanders’ briefings, to film actual arrests, and into the courts to show judges’ comments as they pass sentence.

All of which is highly commendable. It had the desired effect of quashing the disorder, just when the violence appeared to be getting out of control. Otherwise, this was going to be one long hot summer of chaos and mayhem that would scar Britain for years to come.

So, what has really changed? The answer is very little. Our courts are still hopelessly delayed by cases not involving recent rioters; the prisons are just as overcrowded, now more so; police staffing levels remain down. Budgets are still stretched.

There is a cost to the government’s “get tough” response. Court officials will be working overtime, as will the prison delivery drivers and guards. Some 500 prison places have been found. They require servicing. At the rate the courts are going, the demand will only rise. Increases in police officer numbers are underway.

In 2011, the last year in which there were mass riots in Britain, 1,300 offenders were arrested and processed. This year, the total is thought to be higher, and the offences more serious. Then, what began as protests over the shooting dead by police of a drug dealer in north London quickly spilled over into crude looting and street-level chaos. On this occasion, the degree of violence directed at the police was worse, and the jail sentences will probably be longer.

We will pay for it, of course. As will the insurers of the shops, and hotels, and other business premises that were attacked. Whether Rachel Reeves will refer to the rioting and its aftermath when she delivers her autumn statement – which it is thought will be used to pave the way for tax increases – remains to be seen.

The chancellor could receive a positive reaction if she explained that a few billion quid or so are required to meet this extra cost because the cupboards are bare. She may, of course, try to blame the previous government for the struggling courts, overflowing prisons, and police shortages.

Already, Shabana Mahmood, the lord chancellor and justice secretary, has warned: “Rising to this challenge has been made harder by doing so within the justice system we inherited from the Conservatives.

“Because of their failure, we have record crown court backlogs. We were left with prisons so close to overflowing that we had no choice but to release some prisoners – those serving sentences [for offences] that are not seriously violent or sexual in nature – a few weeks or months early.

“The impact of these days of disorder will be felt for months and years to come. They make the job of rebuilding the justice system harder.”

What this early test shows is that, far from patting themselves on the back at the pace of the response and relaxing, Starmer and his colleagues must move fast, across all areas. The rioting was an unforeseen event – Britain had not witnessed anything like that for 13 years – but there will be others, and they will require a response, and they will produce a final bill.

Starmer and co are playing a dangerous game: they say they will proceed cautiously, yet history tells us that they may not be allowed to.

The riots shouldn’t be seen as a one-off; they should embolden the new prime minister. They are symptomatic of much that is wrong with the country he has inherited. Transport, education, healthcare, the military, local government – all are full of holes. Any one of them could cause a crisis in a flash.

Through the riots, Starmer has been issued a warning: you might think you have time, but you don’t. Harold Macmillan was right when he said the greatest challenge to a statesman was “events, dear boy, events”. Starmer may like to remind himself of that whenever he passes Macmillan’s portrait on the No 10 stairs.